Ukraine said on Sunday it had “evidence” of Russia’s involvement in a major cyberattack that targeted several government sites this week, amid heightened tensions between Kiev and Moscow. “To date, all evidence points to Russia being behind the cyberattack,” Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation said in a statement. The cyberattack occurred overnight from Thursday to Friday and targeted the sites of several Ukrainian ministries, which remained inaccessible for several hours.
This sabotage, the ministry added, “is a manifestation of the Hybrid War that Russia has been waging against Ukraine since 2014”, the year of the annexation of Crimea by Moscow which was followed by an ongoing conflict between forces in Kiev and pro-Russian separatists in the east of the country. The aim is “not only to intimidate society”, but also to “destabilize the situation in Ukraine” in “undermining the confidence of Ukrainians in their power” with its “false information about the vulnerability of state IT structures” and the “leakage of personal data of Ukrainians”, according to the ministry.
The cyberattack came amid rising tensions between Russia and Ukraine, with Kiev and its Western allies accusing Moscow of massing troops on its border in preparation for an assault. Experts believe that a possible invasion could be preceded by acts of computer sabotage aimed at disorganizing the Ukrainian authorities.
Several talks between Russia and the West this week have failed to calm tensions. The United States even accused Russia on Friday of having deployed agents in Ukraine to carry out “sabotage” operations in order to create a “pretext” for an invasion, which Moscow denied.
Russia denies any plan of aggression by Ukraine, but demands “guarantees” to ensure its security, starting with a commitment from NATO not to accept Kiev as a member.
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Microsoft Disclaimer
Ukraine had declared on Friday that it had “clues” about Moscow’s involvement. In an interview conducted before Kiev’s latest accusations and due to be published by US broadcaster CNN on Sunday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied his country’s role in the cyberattack. “We have nothing to do with it”, assures Mr. Peskov, according to a short extract from this interview. “Ukrainians blame Russia for everything that happens to them, even bad weather in their country“, he quips.
On Friday, the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) said the attacks targeted a total of 70 government websites. Ten of these sites were the subject of “unauthorized interference”, added the SBU, while ensuring that “their content had not been modified and no leak of personal data took place”.
Despite these reassuring statements, Microsoft warned on Sunday that this massive cyberattack could render the entire Ukrainian government IT structure inoperable. Even though the detected malware looks like ransomware that usually blocks access to the computer by demanding payment of a ransom, it actually aims “to destroy and render inoperable the targeted sites, not to collect a ransom “said the American software giant on its blog.
Additionally, the attack appears to have targeted more organizations than initially thought, according to Microsoft. “We found this malware on dozens of systems belonging to the government, as well as NGOs and information technology organizations, all based in Ukraine. At this point, we cannot say what the operational cycle of this attack is, or how many other organizations may fall victim to it.”, the company added. She also said that she has not been able to identify the origin of these attacks so far.